altezzaclub

Well, the most extreme case was that Moke. Those simple roll bars took 30mm out of the sag when we jacked it before and after. Of course we never thought to jack the Evo5 before seam welding it. Sorting the difference in stresses between the Evo3 on gravel and the Evo5 on tarmac tracks is a real mind exercise. I dropped into the wrecker on Saturday & he showed me a nice blue slanty KE70 in the workshop. He said he'd sell it to me for $2k, I knew the car & I'd spoken to the owner in the past. Monday I went down to get some photos.. and its sold for $2500! A bit rusty in the rear arches, otherwise just an average daily. I'll try to find out who bought it and get him on here.

Haha A carpenter.. well why not, it looks like it works well! We figured out it takes two guys a week to clean and seamweld a shell. The cleaning is 90% of it, scrapers, hard wire wheels, softer wire wheels to get into the join between the panels, and that's not counting painting afterwards. Josh wants it super-clean, and his welding is immaculate. I made the mounts for the main hoop today, Graham was making seat mounts and Josh was hitting the Mini with the Tig. We were quite used to stepping through the windscreen with the shell on its side... This will be the biggest (and hopefully only!) rebuild the Evo5 gets, making it a strong, reliable tarmac car.

We've refurbished the rotisserie Josh's Dad used to build P76s on, and the Evo5 shell was on that this arvo. Graham & I can start cleaning underside of the shell up and putting seat mounts in, while Josh can get back onto the Mini.. I can tell you, welding on the bottom of a car while its on its side is much much better than above your head on a hoist!!

Arrgh! More distractions... The Mini is getting welded up, all TiG so very slow, today we had to take the rear windows out to get flanges welded from the main hoop to the B-pillar. Buuuut.... an art object in the form of a close-ratio sequential 6-speed gearbox for the tarmac car, the Evo5, turned up a week or two back... and that needed a new shifter setup through the firewall & new electrics, so that meant the dash out, and that meant we should move the seat back to where Josh really wanted it, and that meant the brakes should go to twin master cyl so pedal box out and that meant.. a car that now looks like this! "How To Build A Racing Car" coming up! First, a mockup of the driving position to decide where the floor-mounted pedals go, the seat goes and the steering goes. Get all that sorted, clean the shell up and respray it, and then a new cage in. Make a new dash with new looms, fit seats, fire extinguishers, battery and fuel lines, all planned for a 500bhp motor in the future! Once the terrible weather is over I'll slip some work in on the CAKE along the way!!

I expect the coil will not draw more than 10amps, that leaves about 10amps for other uses in their usual 20amp relay. Here's a handy diagram of wiring an alty in- Its illustrating why jumping the S onto B is not ideal, although I've done the same and don't seem to suffer from the drop in voltage at the battery. You can see you need the ignition light to be controlled by the ignition switch, and that is happening somewhere under the dash. Then a wire goes from the lamp to the alty and earths out when its not charging, lighting the lamp. That's the purple circuit below. Keep that, and if you want to jump across the orange line from coil to alty, make sure there is a fuse in it. That line activates the alty, the main current of power from the alty is the blue line going to the fusible link line and into the battery and car as a whole. The fact that Toyota didn't run the alty off the coil wire means there's probably a reason not to, but I don't know what that is... Here's the factory wiring setup from these guys- http://wilbo666.pbworks.com/w/page/39441708/Toyota%20Alternators They run a 10amp fuse in the line from Ign to Alty. If the IC regulator in the alty blows up you don't want the same problem again.

Here's the KE70 setup, it must be very similar. That black/orange on IGN2 does the 'running' voltage to the coil and is also a feed to the engine fuse. If your 55 had a 12V coil you probably don't have that wire, it would all run off the BY IG1. Are you running a newer alty with an internal regulator? If the 55 had an external regulator it would look more like this, the USA T motor. In the end, just hunt around with a multimeter until you find an ign positive and trace it back to see what its for. Hook that onto a relay with power from the battery or alty, and feed it to whatever needs to be ignition-controlled. At the worst, run a new wire from the ignition key into the engine to feed a relay. I've put my coil onto a relay with the 4AGE, it cuts down the current that the coil feed carries from the key right around the engine bay, just like yours. Of course when the relay burns out I'm in the same boat.

Coil ignition would be the obvious one, use that to run a relay with coil and pump both on it. It depends on how you wired the 4AGE in to start with. Alty would be another, that has an ignition controlled feed. Wipers would be a bit out of the way, probably the passenger's kick-panel if its like a KE70. Indicators would all be inside the column, as would the accessories like lighter and radio. Do you have an electric fan on it?? The slantys have a purple wire going from drivers side to passengers that was ignition controlled, I assume for the 4AC coil. Which loom did you get to repair it with?? KE55?

"Asked if a foreign diplomat may have spread the virus, given they are exempt from hotel quarantine, Professor Sutton replied: "We simply don't know. I wouldn't rule anything in or out."" Yup.. they're looking after us all right! The rules are that the peasants get shafted as usual but the Govt do what they like. No Covid-spreading hotels for diplomats, and Govt ministers getting busted for breaking their own rules all the time. They have continued to travel to these all-important world meetings between the pigs and the farmers. Meanwhile Fauci's email leaks show the Americans knew Covid came from the Wuhan Lab but tried to hide it. Now they're willing to sacrifice Fauci to demonise the Chinese and blame them, omitting to point out the American Army Bioweapons lab at Fort Detrick was closed down in 2019 due to 'failure of biocontainment systems '. Of course while the mainstream media are picking up on the 'Lab-created' rather than 'eating a pangolin' story, they are failing to point out that the Americans. under Fauci, financed the building of the Wuhan Lab and paid to run it after gain-of-function experiments were banned in the USA. No-one is calling for all Govts to ban bioweapon experiments, so don't expect this to end well in the future. Covid is only the first one..! A Chinese virologist who was among the first people to tout the Wuhan lab theory said the coronavirus is a bioweapon and Dr. Anthony Fauci was among the scientists and organizations who knew about it and tried to hide it. In a Wednesday night interview on Newsmax, Dr. Li-Meng Yan said Fauci's emails, which were published by Buzzfeed and the Washington Post on Tuesday, proved he knew about the Chinese gain of function research before the pandemic started. 'These people knew what happened, but they chose to hide for the Chinese Communist Party and their own benefits,' Yan said. She published three reports - two last year and one this year - and she didn't mince words in latest report - published March 31: 'The causative agent of COVID-19, is not a naturally occurring pathogen but an Unrestricted Bioweapon. 'It is a product of the bioweapons program of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government, the network of which includes not only the CCP scientists but also certain overseas scientists and organizations.' All three reports were published without peer review on Zenodo. The Wuhan lab leak was considered at first to be a crazy conspiracy theory that was pushed by the far right to blame China for the pandemic until President Joe Biden said his administration is looking into it. British intelligence reportedly assessed the theory recently and upgraded its likeliness from 'remote' to 'feasible', according to The Sunday Times. Then came Fauci's email dump on Tuesday, when more than 3,200 of his emails from January to June 2020 were obtained and published by Buzzfeed and the Washington Post. Yan referenced one of these emails during her interview with Newsmax. On February 1, 2020, one of Fauci's direct reports, Dr. Hugh Auchincloss, wrote in an email to Fauci that the 'experiments were performed before the gain of function pause but have since been reviewed and approved by NIH (National Institutes of Health).' Fauci and Auchincloss were discussing a paper that Fauci sent him. Its a bit like the BOM ignoring the fact that the Earth hasn't warmed since 2016, that ocean temperature is dropping, and now sell cold weather as 'a delight for snow-skiing' to the peasants. This doesn't sound like global warming to me... By now you've read all about the first really big winter storm system of 2021, with a cold pool of air and snowfalls likely as far north as the NSW Northern Tablelands and even elevated parts of southern Queensland - but where can you go to throw a snowball or two? A little further down the page, we've compiled a quick guide to some of the likely snow hot spots - actually, make that cold spots.

Well, next event, the Armidale Rallysprint went OK too! A little work and we have a reliable car that is quick.. Quick means 2nd to the Audi Quattro all day until the last stage when the exhaust flexi gave up and the flames set the rack boot on fire... Anyway, third is fine! Back to work, the Mini cage needs finishing.. with this sort of quality its not fast work, but its getting there, and then the CAKE! There may be some delays as we might be re-building a well-known Purple People Eater KE70 rally car, something to look forward to!

"I seriously considered a WRX, but family shouted that down as a thug car! " You dodged a bullet! Mate Rob on here has one he's trying to get going, but that means two motors both with run bearings.. Common problem with them. Golf- rocketship with strange, clever, opaque way of doing things! We swapped the whole Golf-R mechanicals & electrics into Josh's Mum's 1.4L Golf 6, there was some fascinating stuff in there. Beautifully made though, the $700 headlights are a work of art. Four electronic boxes in each headlight, all made in different countries. Still, 4WD 2L turbo...

OK, that was a busy day! 9 stages well run and well organised. He was working his way in with a 2nd place in stage 3, but then a puncture in stage 4 cost 6minutes or so. Never mind, we battled with strange noises, fire underneath from the exhaust flexible joint letting go (same as last Orange Rally!) and catching up with the car in front, and finally made it to the finish! Now we have a turbo system that works we will strip the whole car again, check everything and make plans to improve a lot of little things. Before then we will get the Mini cage finished and start on the CAKE! The roads were much rougher than this picture, maybe a third of the field didn't finish, and its mainly Evos versus Subarus with a lot of 1970/80s RWDs chasing them. Speeds are up over 200kph on gravel these days, you need 4WD & turbo power to be at the pointy end of the field.

Well... nope! The Garrett lasted a few runs yesterday before blowing up in spectacular fashion! Once again we spent the afternoon & night pulling it all off and cleaning it all, then installed the last new replacement turbo of Chinese design. This time we definitely blamed the boost control somewhere, for although the computer only displays a max boost of 23psi the nav was watching the manual gauge as it ran off the end at 35psi. We went back to an old waste-gate, which meant manufacturing fittings to fit that and welding it all up. Another midnight, and now I'm just late for catching up with the car before driver's briefing!!

Ah rallying... Wednesday we get the Evo3 running and we have a day of testing before the publicity run on Friday and the rally on this Saturday. I rock up on Thursday to find Josh didn't like the noises the rear diff was making, so his Dad went to Sydney that morning to get the close-ratio gearbox that was finally ready... because the replacement diff has a lower ratio and changing a ratio in a 4WD means changing the front diff inside the gearbox as well. So, it was out with the rear diff, which checked out OK on the bench, but seeing we had it out and the new gearbox coming we swapped diffs, and then into removing the gearbox. The new close-ratio box turned up just after we got this one out, so it was reversing the morning's work for the afternoon. By 10pm we had it running again with a handful of other small improvements, and as this is Friday morning right now we should make today's publicity event. With the Garrett on and a week of rainy weather, he reckons it might have too much grunt now, a most unusual complaint for a driver!!

The ballast is there to drop the voltage when the engine is running, so its working OK. The ballast is bypassed on the 'Start' part of the ignition key, there is a 2nd wire that sends 12V straight to the coil for starting. It sounds like this wire is broken or come off. On a KE70 the ballast feed is black & orange, the start feed is red.

Ah, distractions distractions... The Golf runs, although there are a few days left in the interior to finish it. The sequential close-ratio never made it in time so the Evo3 is being assembled with a new Garrett this time, otherwise pretty much the same. Josh scored an antique fireplace so that was refurbished and lifted into place, just before the weather gets really cold. A new chimney is in place and he tells me it runs fine! Yeah, 8mm ratchet ring spanner that was not working so well... We FINALLY got the new CAKE out of the wreckers, with the month of sunny dry weather we've had Jase was happy to use the forkhoist to lift it out for us. This shell has NO rust around the boot rubber, almost unheard of, and only a hole in the very bottom of the rear sides as usual. Now it can sit for a month while we finish the EVo3 preparation, finish the Mini cage and argue over which non-rally Evo we will work on first. I swear he's trying to get the whole set, we have a 3, a 5, a 7 and a 9, mainly is bits around the shed! Hopefully we can have the CAKE running over winter and drop the orange body back to the wrecker. The next question will be, do we aim the CAKE at the bottom end of motorsport, a cageless gymkhana car, or do we half-cage it and get it up the ladder a little to hill-climb or drift hack or whatever....

" So before I pulled the 4AGE out I decided to comp test it, in which, no joke it lost compression on cylinders 1-3 while I was testing it.... All had 30psi except cyl 4 which had 140psi. So plan is to rebuild it, I pulled the head off on the weekend and couldn't see any obvious signs as to why it lost comp. " That's fascinating! I can't see it being a head gasket or a crack, which doesn't leave much except valves sticking open from not being used, or a fault with the meter. Its possible rings broke in those cylinders if they were glued up from sitting. Make sure to tell us what caused it. Otherwise, the Corolla looks excellent, and the background looks Queenslandish, so rust-free is surprising.

I haven't been up to the farm for a while, but with the Armidale rallysprint on next month I'll catch up with everyone. Meanwhile I've been working with Josh on his rally car down here near Orange, that's all in here- https://www.rollaclub.com/board/topic/79949-the-orange-cake/?tab=comments#comment-728027

OK, well the Megane was finished and handed back to its happy owner, and we started on the Mini.... Then stuff happened and Josh thought his Mum's Golf 7 1.4L needed an upgrade from his bro's un-used Golf R... So the 1.4 lost its spare wheel well last week- The R had the same cut out, leaving a perfectly saleable shell if anyone wants to build a Golf R racing car- The much shallower R spare well is needed to fit this lump of complicated machinery.. ..along with motor, gearbox, wiring looms, dash, suspension & brakes, basically everything until Mum is driving a turbo 2L 4WD around to get the groceries! Going from 90KW to 220KW means next Friday should be interesting in the IGA carpark.. Then back to the Mini and getting the Evo3 ready for the Orange rally in May, we're still waiting for the close-ratio gearbox there. Hopefully the CAKE gets some work after that.

Well, how would the Yaris sell as- "Red-hot pocket rocket, 4WD, active diffs, only $50,000 with a 2L flat-four turbo Subaru engine" The Subaru's boxer reputation made sure the 86 was never going to be a popular car. Dave there must be a lot of cheap ones come out of the 86 racing series, they treat them like stockcars.

Yes, that's why I'm never too fussed about what my rally cars look like, I know they are temporary...

You're right! Torx bolts with flat heads and 9mm threads!! Weird! looks like this- Its a weekend warrior the owner wants to keep the trim in, and have the cage removable- Josh did the main hoop & crosses while I did the feet, mirror imaged under the floor. We have a 3M alloy spirit level trailer-strapped to the roof in the right place, and the hoop zip-tied to it while the rear supports are measured. They come down to the back feet, I ringed one in red. There'll be another X in the back part, so it will be one unit, with junctions onto the main hoop. The seat belt bar will go in that too. That's it until after Easter, then finish this, then rescue the new shell for the Orange Cake, and there is a new Mini Cooper for a cage.

It would be nice to see what helicopter was lifting the Hilux. A Jetranger lifts 400Kg odd, so we might just get away with one of those, but I reckon 6 burly young men are more likely. Tables delivered, everyone impressed, and apparently we have a Megane sitting in the workshop awaiting a half-cage..

Well, the weather has definitely turned to crap! The wreckers said we can take the shell and replace it with ours when we're done, which is great of him... but he can't get a forkhoist down the muddy lanes until it all dries out. He's looking at early spring!! So we need a method of getting the KE70 down off the Skyline it is sitting on, with double-stacked cars front, both sides and behind, without bending the roof or similar! Meanwhile the Cake stays outside as we have a contract to build 4 steel mesh tables for the Botanic Gardens Volunteers... another one of my hobbies.

Well, things went sideways fast after that! I rocked up on Thursday morning to find the Cake outside and a giant press brake sitting in the middle of the floor! It came up for sale in almost-new condition at a good price so it had to be bought! Now we can bend ute trays and similar. What it really meant was the day turned into a massive workshop rearrangement to find room for it! Dig out the motors stored in the back to put the mill there.. hang on, the three motors need stands so they can be stacked.. The steel rack and random sheets of steel that came with the press were to go in the back room too, but that would block access for the stairs that hadn't been built to the mezzanine yet.. So by Friday arvo we had the stairs in place, the steel rack in, the mill moved... and I took the CA20 engine loom out of the Pintara. The next twist was asking Jase at the wreckers if we could take the whole KE70 shell we were about to chop up for its almost-rust-free rear quarters! That will be difficult as its blocked in by other wrecked cars, but hopefully we just re-shell The Orange Cake and avoid the rust problem. We shall see...

Well, it was looking like this this morning- and like this by late afternoon- A tall skinny motor, we just cut the mounts right off the cross-member and re-shaped them to fit. Josh was making the g'box cross-member when I left. We'll stick to injection after long discussions, complicated, but it is all there and working. It means the loom swap will be a hurdle, but not as bad as the rust problem! They make the hydraulic clutch conversion look simple!